Maine’s Highest Court Hears Eddington Man’s Appeal

Maine’s highest court heard an appeal by an Eddington man who claims he received too harsh a sentence.Ryan Witmer went on trial last year, accused of forcing his way into his estranged wife’s home while she was watching a movie with another man.Witmer was sentenced to four years after being convicted of assault and violation of a protection order.The jury found Witmer not guilty of attempted murder, aggravated assault and burglary.His lawyer argues the four year sentence was based on the charges he was acquitted of.The state says all the facts of the case were relevant to the sentencing.”We don’t want to have judges restricted on what they can consider when it comes time to sentence a defendant. They are required by statute to craft an individualized sentence for every defendant and that would include taking into consideration here that the defendant broke into a locked home that he knew he could not enter because of a valid protection order.””The judge said that several bad things happened as a result of his decision to enter the residence. And that suggests that there was a cause relationship between the decision to enter and the injuries and the events that occurred inside. What it ignores is the fact that there were other intervening events.”The court has given no time frame for when it will issue its decision in the case.